Following Venice (2014), Malibu (2016) and Oxnard (2018), Anderson .Paak continues his tour of the west coast. Here, he’s arrived at Ventura, a love-letter to a neighboring town to the city of angels that flirts more with the fringes of old-school R&B and the new soul scene than his previous albums. This time, the Californian hasn’t waited 3 years to return to the studio, but just 5 months. Released on Dr Dre’s label Aftermath, Oxnard was compact and glossy, with a large number of featured artists (Pusha T, J Cole, Q Tip), but it was also more harshly criticized, even by his mother. Anderson opts for a return to his roots, with voluptuous R&B, fresh soul and cult rap, mixing timeless nostalgic flavorings with the modern era. To support his idea, there are even more carefully selected feats. For the silky softness of the 70’s/80’s, we find legend of the genre Smokey Robinson (Make It Better). For the 90’s golden age, Brandy (Jet Black).

For the soul side, Anderson and Dre look to Donny’s daughter, Lalah Hathaway, on the groovy basslines of Reachin’2 Much, as well as Sonyae Elise (who already shows up in Malibu) and Jazmine Sullivan who was already on stage alongside Stevie Wonder at just 13 years old. But the two biggest surprises of the album are of course André 3000 in the opening track Come Home and especially Nate Dogg – who died in 2011 - on the gentle closing track What Can We Do?: both key figures of 90’s rap. The first put Atlanta back on the rap map with OutKast’s Dirty South and recently appeared on James Blake’s Where’s The Catch. The second was ubiquitous in the 90’s/00’s rap scene with legendary hooks and her G-Funk-rap-R&B formula alongside Warren G, Snoop and Xzibit. Anderson .Paak pays tribute to his elders and closes his fourth album in 39 minutes and 11 tracks.